Post frame buildings are laid out with string lines that define a rectangular shape and mark locations to place the posts which will be set into the ground. Concrete must be poured into the bottom of holes dug along the string line to form foundation pads to support weight the posts will have to bear once the building is completed. Getting the foundation pads level with respect to each other is difficult, meaning the final heights of the tops of the posts will be uneven. Once the concrete is poured into the bottoms of the holes, a construction crew must wait for the concrete to cure before placing the posts, causing a delay. After posts are placed on the foundation pads, they must be correctly positioned using a level on adjacent sides of the post to make sure posts are vertically plumb in both directions. Due to the fact that posts are often twisted or warped, this technique rarely places the tops of the posts directly above the bottoms of the posts, which affects how plumb and square the completed building will be. Once a worker believes he has a post true to the string line and perpendicular to the ground, boards that are staked into the ground must be tacked onto the post while someone holds the post in position. Positioning the post takes at least two workers a great deal of time to accomplish due to the labor of tacking on the boards, checking the post for level, and repositioning the post multiple times.
Depending on local building codes, holes around each post are either filled with concrete or soil once the post is positioned. Uplift is the force resulting from wind, which can lift buildings upward if not secured to the ground. Cleat boards are nailed to the end of a post that will be placed into the ground to make that end larger than the rest of the post, thereby increasing a post's resistance to uplift. A post with cleat boards and set in concrete has high resistance to uplift, but a large amount of cost is added if concrete is used to fill the holes, as required by some building codes. In a building where soil is used to fill postholes, the cleat boards provide moderate resistance to uplift.